Fear and loathing for Peter Dutton as he stirs paranoia and threatens democracy

Mark Hillis writes: Maeve McGregor’s highly quotable article “We should be afraid, but not for the reason the major parties tell us” packs a punch at the fear-mongering that led to so much frantic activity in federal Parliament last Thursday evening. I agree with McGregor that the insane haste to get around the High Court’s clearly understandable ruling seems to have been sponsored by the certainty that the Australian public is afraid of a shadow — the shadow created by decades of asylum seeker paranoia.

Are the government and opposition assessing the public correctly? I pray not. And they certainly are not getting it right as far as I’m concerned. The government may be surprised by the respect it would gain if it stopped pandering to the extremism of the opposition parties.

Jean John writes: I am very afraid. Not of the individuals released from indefinite detention — at least no more afraid of them than the thousands of former prisoners who served their sentences and are now free in society. Yes, a few of those released are not people you would necessarily choose as a neighbour, but many more have done nothing more serious than a traffic offence. 

Rather I am afraid that in the frenzy whipped up by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton — and a government caving into that fear — we have sacrificed the basic principle of a democracy: that you cannot lock people up without a trial and a sentence: habeus corpus. Without this, there is no rule of law.

I am afraid for those affected by this legislation now, but more especially for all of us, for once you abandon the rule of law for one set of people you can do it for anyone. I am also afraid for Australians whose fear is being weaponised to make hasty, bad decisions and for a government so weak on this basic principle that it caved in to Dutton’s demands without a fight or time to reflect.

Jo Vallentine writes: It’s such a fragile flower, our democracy. We need to tend it, watch out for it, and ensure it’s not trampled upon.

In one week, grave challenges emerged from the Parliament and the courts that underscored our need not just for vigilance, but for action. We can’t let the major parties run scared of freed asylum seekers, lumping them all together to endure the wearing of security bracelets and other infringements of their liberties.

What bothers me (not to the point of being scared, however) is that it’s so easy for our so-called freedoms to be whittled away in the name of security and safety. What we should be fearing is that our governments are leaving until too late measures to stop rapid global warming from ruining lives everywhere. 

But we don’t have to mindlessly accept these threats. We can act as a community to disallow the scaremongers and secrecy merchants to disempower us. We must get out there and voice our disgust loudly in every way we can.

Peter Barry writes: The panicked reaction by Labor to the High Court decision on the permanent imprisonment of stateless refugees is regrettable. While not downplaying the enormity of the crimes committed by some of those released, each case needs to be assessed on its merits according to Australian law that applies to us all, with similar penalties and restrictions.

If the draconian measures taken to avoid being wedged on this issue by the Coalition are applied for a limited period, they can be justified. If they pertain long term, they are in complete defiance of the High Court ruling and are a snook to the rule of law in this country.

It would take only a minor reoffending by any of those on release to have the Coalition and its media champions baying for even more restrictions or even lifelong incarceration for everyone in this group of mainly unfortunate individuals. They are unlikely to be more of a threat than others who have served time for breaking the law and now move freely among us.

Anita Spinks writes: What I’m afraid of is the influence of Dutton and not the prisoner detainees who’ve done their time. I’m alarmed by Dutton’s newly emboldened stance of aggression and authority while he seeks to tell the elected prime minister in no uncertain terms where he’s going wrong. I’d like to hear a chorus from the media shouting him down and telling him to pull his head in! Where did he get this hubris?

Roger Lee writes: I’m more afraid of Dutton and his Liberal National Party model than I am of a cohort of refugees who have been convicted of serious crimes. Let’s not forget that most of them have served their sentences. We regularly free prisoners in Australia who are guilty of similar crimes after they have served their time and I can’t see what the fundamental difference there is between a released Australian prisoner and a released refugee, both of whom have committed similar crimes and been punished for them.